In this study, a novel configuration for luminescent solar concentrator photovoltaic (LSC PV) devices is presented, with vertically placed bifacial PV solar cells made of mono-crystalline silicon (mono c-Si). This LSC PV device comprises multiple rectangular cuboid lightguides, made of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), containing Lumogen dyes, in particular, either Lumogen red 305 or orange 240. The bifacial solar cells are located in between these lightguide cubes and can, therefore, receive irradiance at both of their surfaces. The main aim of this study is to theoretically determine the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of five differently configured LSC PV devices. For this purpose, Monte Carlo ray tracing simulations were executed to analyze the irradiance at receiving PV cell surfaces, as well as the optical performance of these LSC PV devices. Five different LSC PV devices, with different geometries and varying dye concentrations, were modeled. To maximize the device efficiency, the bifacial cells were also attached to the back side of the lightguides. The ray tracing simulations resulted in a maximum efficiency of 16.9% under standard test conditions (STC) for a 15 × 15 cm2 LSC PV device, consisting of nine rectangular cuboid 5 × 5 × 1 cm3 PMMA lightguides with 5 ppm orange 240 dye, with 12 vertically positioned 5 × 1 cm2 bifacial cells in between the lightguides and nine 5 × 5 cm2 PV cells attached to the back of the device. If the cells are not applied to the back of this LSC PV device configuration, the maximum PCE will be 2.9% (under STC), where the LSC PV device consists of 25 cubical 1 × 1 × 1 cm3 PMMA lightguides with 110 ppm red 305 dye and 40 vertically oriented bifacial PV cells of 1 × 1 cm2 in between the lightguides. These results show the vast future potential for LSC PV technologies, with a higher performance and efficiency than the common threshold PCE for LSC PV devices of 10%.


In a previous paper (Boschma, 1935) I made some remarks concerning the parasites of Pachygrapsus crassipes Randall from Japan, viz., Sacculina confragosa and the specimens mentioned then under the name Sacculina rotundata. The latter parasite, indeed, shows some resemblance to S. rotundata, but a closer examination of its characters shows that it is specifically distinct from this species. It appears to be a new species which is described in the present paper as Sacculina yatsui. Moreover the results of a more or less detailed investigation on Sacculina rotundata are given here to show the differences between the two species. Sacculina yatsui nov. spec. Sacculina rotundata: Boschma 1935. Material examined: Sagami Bay, 1901, Dr. Haberer. Zool. Museum Munich. 2 specimens. Sagami Bay, March 1903, Dr. Haberer. Zool. Museum Munich. 2 specimens. Aburatsuko, Misaki, litoral, August 1929, Prof. A. S. Pearse. Museum Leiden. I specimen1). Misaki, Marine Biol. Sta., 1930, Prof. Naohide Yatsu. Museum Leiden. 5 specimens (holotype and paratypes). Shimoda, Shizuo-ken, sea shore near Marine Biological Laboratory, May 3, 1934, Prof. Yaichiro Okada. Museum Leiden. 3 specimens. All the specimens mentioned above are parasites of Pachygrapsus crassipes Randall. Diagnosis. Male genital organs in the posterior part of the body, outside the visceral mass. Testes more or less globular. Colleteric 1) The statement in my previous paper (Boschma, 1935, p. 152) is erroneous;


Postharvest losses of capsicum crop accounts for 30-40% of total crop production. It has been shown that postharvest losses of capsicums can be reduced significantly with the application of potassium due to improvements in disease resistance and fruit quality. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of higher doses of potassium (K) on plant growth, yield and fruit quality parameters and resistance to anthracnose disease of capsicum cv. 'Hungarian Yellow wax'. Three different levels of potassium, Department of Agriculture (DOA) recommended level [180g per bed (control)], double the level (360g per bed) and three times of the level (540g per bed) were applied to the soil in a Randomized Complete Block design. The same experiment was repeated in three farmer fields of Naula Grama Niladhari (GN) division in Dambulla Divisional Secretariat of Matale district of the central province of Sri Lanka. Plant growth parameters were measured at two week intervals, and fruit quality parameters (TSS, Ph, %TA), fruit physical parameters (length, width, pericarp thickness, fresh weight, firmness and cell wall thickness) were recorded. Finally the resistance to diseases of capsicum fruits was also tested by inoculation of Colletotrichum capsici to the fruits. This study concludes that application of higher doses of potassium improves some plant growth parameters (height and plant diameter at base), fruit physical parameters (fruit length, width , fresh weight, firmness and cell wall thickness). The tripled and doubled the dose of potassium application reduced anthracnose disease by over 75% and 95% respectively indicating that higher level of K could have a significant impact in reducing postharvest losses of capsicum in local conditions  KEYWORDS: Potassium application, capsicum anthracnose, fruit quality


ABSTRACT Wolbachia, a common bacterial endosymbiont of insects, has been shown to protect its hosts against a wide range of pathogens. However, not all strains exert a protective effect on their host. Here we assess the effects of two divergent Wolbachia strains, wAlbB from Aedes albopictus and wMelPop from Drosophila melanogaster, on the vector competence of Anopheles gambiae challenged with Plasmodium berghei. We show that the wAlbB strain significantly increases P. berghei oocyst levels in the mosquito midgut while wMelPop modestly suppresses oocyst levels. The wAlbB strain is avirulent to mosquitoes while wMelPop is moderately virulent to mosquitoes pre-blood meal and highly virulent after mosquitoes have fed on mice. These various effects on P. berghei levels suggest that Wolbachia strains differ in their interactions with the host and/or pathogen, and these differences could be used to dissect the molecular mechanisms that cause interference of pathogen development in mosquitoes.


This article reports on a study that investigated whether the extent to which learners benefit from recasts on two Turkish morphemes differ depending on communication mode — i.e. Face-to-Face Communication (F2FC) and text-based Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication (SCMC) — and/or the salience of the target structure (i.e. salient and non-salient). In this first exposure study, 24 native speakers of English with no Turkish background studied 51 Turkish words by completing a series of vocabulary learning tasks. Participants who scored at or above a criterion level of 60% on a screening test met with the researcher and carried out two communicative tasks. In each task, learners received recasts on one of the target structures through one of the communication modes. The order of the tasks was counterbalanced across four subgroups of learners. Two oral production tasks were used as a posttest in order to measure learners' performance on the two target structures. Results revealed that learners scored statistically significantly higher on receiving recasts through text-based SCMC than recasts through F2FC. However, results showed no difference between the salient and the non-salient morpheme in benefiting from recasts.


This communication presents a collaborative experience between four Spanish centers: the School of Engineering (ETSE) and the Sports Services Area (SAF) both from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) jointly with two centers of the Technical University of Catalonia, the higher school from Vilanova i la Geltru (EPSEVG) and the higher school in Terrassa (ETSEIAT). The idea behind this collaboration is to explore the possibility of role engineering education and project development for engineering students. The basic principle of such projects is the identification of the corresponding roles associated with the different parts that can be found on current social/industrial activity.


One-third of the annual natural disasters and economic losses, and more than half of the respective victims are flood related. These hazards are likely to become more frequent and more relevant in the future, due to the effects of increase in population, urbanization, land subsidence and the impacts of climate change. Knowledge and advanced scientific tools play a role of paramount importance in the strain of coping with flooding problems. In this context, flood modelling represents the basis for effective flood mitigation. The modelling approach aims to provide the best means for assessing and, subsequently, reducing the vulnerability of rural and urban flood prone areas. By using models, an attempt is made to replace trial and error based strategies, as practised in the past, with more physically-based measures of flood management and control. Mathematical models are the best tools, nowadays available, for the design of efficient flood protection strategies and excellent supporters of decision-makers. With reference to these issues, the paper provides a review and a general description of the main features of the models currently used in flood management along with the characteristics of the experimental data required for models' calibration. Moreover, to highlight the effectiveness and the resilience of these tools, some laboratory tests and case studies are presented.


A new method for robust generation of distance fields from triangle meshes is presented. Graphics hardware is used to accelerate a technique for generating layered depth images. From multiple layered depth images, a binary volume and a point representation are extracted. The point information is then used to convert the binary volume into a distance field. The method is robust and handles holes, spurious triangles and ambiguities. Moreover, the method lends itself to Boolean operations between solids. Since a point cloud as well as a signed distance is generated, it is possible to extract an iso-surface of the distance field and fit it to the point set. Using this method, one may recover sharp edge information. Examples are given where the method for generating distance fields coupled with mesh fitting is used to perform Boolean and morphological operations on triangle meshes.


A new technique based on the PDF (Population Density Function) was suggested to investigate the behavior of non-metallic inclusions after deoxidization. In comparison with the traditional analysis using the size histogram of inclusions, the application of PDF can make it possible to attain more useful information to understand the evolution of inclusions such as the period of formation and mechanism for growth. In this study, the PDF of alumina inclusions was investigated for the ultra low carbon grade steel of 20 ppm C. The lollypop samples were taken at three stages after deoxidization using aluminum; at the end of RH degassing process, at tundish during casting operations, and in cast slabs after solidification. For all the samples except for the contaminated ones, the PDF shows a fractal distribution. The exponent in fractal distribution was –3.54 near the end of RH process at 7–13 minutes after deoxidization, which is similar with the previously reported value. In contrast, the exponent was changed to –2.76 in tundish and –2.38 in cast slab, respectively. Different expressions of the fractal distribution can be attributed to the changes in fluid condition of molten steel. The application of PDF also provides the quantitative evaluation for abnormal reoxidization of molten steel. The deviation of PDF from the reference distribution is in accordance with other evidences of reoxidization of molten steel such as the increase of nitrogen pick-up and the decrease of soluble aluminum.


The quest for planar sp2-hybridized carbon allotropes other than
graphene, such as graphenylene and biphenylene sheet, has stimulated
substantial research efforts because of the materials' predicted unique
mechanical, electronic and transport properties. However, their
synthesis remains challenging due to the lack of reliable protocols for
generating non-hexagonal rings during the in-plane tiling of carbon
atoms. Here, we report the bottom-up growth of ultra-flat biphenylene
sheet with periodically arranged four-, six-, and eight-membered rings
of sp2 carbon atoms, via an unprecedented on-surface inter-polymer
hydrogen fluoride (HF)-zipping reaction. The characterization of this
biphenylene sheet by scanning probe methods solves the long-standing
controversy over its dielectric or metallic nature. We expect the
inter-polymer HF-zipping method to complement the toolbox for the
synthesis of other nonbenzenoid carbon allotropes.


Spermatozoa Quality from Polyscias guilfoylei. In our study, we investigated the effect of extract Polyscias guilfoylei L.H. Bailey leaves on spermatozoa quality in rabbits. The experiment used 18 male rabbits from New Zealand white strain which were devided randomly into three groups. Group I was normal control group, Group II and III were given the extract of Polyscias guilfoylei leaves in these following doses: 327.56 mg/1.5 kg body weight and 655.2 mg/1.5 kg bw. The extract was given orally once a day, continuously for 8 weeks. Semens from the rabbit was taken every two weeks and were observed over the quality and consentration of spermatozoa. The result of the research showed that the extract of Polyscias guilfoylei leaves with dosage of 327.56 mg/1.5 kg bw and 655.2 mg/1.5 kg bw could decrease the consentration and the quality of spermatozoa of the male rabbits.


The next generation of galaxy surveys will observe millions of galaxies over large volumes of the universe. These surveys are expensive both in time and cost, raising questions regarding the optimal investment of this time and money. In this work we investigate criteria for selecting amongst observing strategies for constraining the galaxy power spectrum and a set of cosmological parameters. Depending on the parameters of interest, it may be more efficient to observe a larger, but sparsely sampled, area of sky instead of a smaller contiguous area. In this work, by making use of the principles of Bayesian Experimental Design, we will investigate the advantages and disadvantages of the sparse sampling of the sky and discuss the circumstances in which a sparse survey is indeed the most efficient strategy. For the Dark Energy Survey (DES), we find that by sparsely observing the same area in a smaller amount of time, we only increase the errors on the parameters by a maximum of 0.45%. Conversely, investing the same amount of time as the original DES to observe a sparser but larger area of sky we can in fact constrain the parameters with errors reduced by 28%.


Abstract. Terrain modelling influences various aspects of mobile robot navigation. The ability to explore in rough terrain and to recognise ground conditions are essential to perform different activities efficiently, safely and satisfactorily. For this reason, intelligent vehicles and robotic systems need cognitive capabilities to understand the terrain and derive information from it. The information is mostly acquired and processed by very high resolution 3D-cameras and LiDAR sensors which provide full 360-degree environmental view to deliver accurate 3D data. The aim of this paper is to find out whether a low-cost sensor variant can measure sufficient and significant data from the terrain in order to modify the navigation behaviour and provide the correct control commands. In this paper we describe a low-cost sensor with Infrared Time-of-Flight (ToF) technology and 64 pixel depth image. Furthermore, different experiments on the detection of the sensor were conducted and with appropriate filters and signal processing algorithms the environmental perception could be significantly improved. In summary, our results provide both evidence and guidelines for the use of the selected sensor in environmental perception to improve local obstacle detection and terrain modelling, which we believe will lead to a very cost-effective improvement in competence and situational awareness.


Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for automotive applications are used to reduce the number of road accidents. Multiple Target Tracking (MTT) is one of the most efficient techniques used in modern ADAS's. Data Association is a vital part of MTT which can be modeled as the classic Assignment Problem. We implement two algorithms namely, the Munkres (or Hungarian) algorithm and the Auction algorithm in Altera's StratixII FPGA using the NiosII soft-core processor. We analyze the resource requirements and the execution speed of the two algorithms. We describe the circumstances where the use of one or the other of these two algorithms is most suitable in the context of the data association problem.


Recently, virtualization in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has witnessed significant attention due to the growing service domain for Internet of Things (IoT). Related literature on virtualization in WSNs explored resource optimization without considering communication failure in WSNs environments. The failure of a communication link in WSNs impacts many virtual networks running IoT services. In this context, this paper proposes a framework for optimizing fault tolerance (FT) in virtualization in WSNs, focusing on heterogeneous networks for service-oriented IoT applications. An optimization problem is formulated considering FT and communication delay as two conflicting objectives. An adapted nondominated sorting-based genetic algorithm (A-NSGA) is developed to solve the optimization problem. The major components of A-NSGA include chromosome representation, FT and delay computation, crossover and mutation, and nondominance-based sorting. Analytical and simulation-based comparative performance evaluation has been carried out. From the analysis of results, it is evident that the framework effectively optimizes FT for virtualization in WSNs.


Text summarization is a data mining process of extracting the summary or zest from one or more documents. A summary is nothing but the actual theme of the document or set of documents. Most commonly document summery is considered to be the sentences or words from set of documents or a single document that appear more number of times in the document with corresponding to the other words. But a report on solar power may emphasis on several aspects of solar energy and may not actually have the term solar power repeated many a times. Therefore sophisticated algorithms are needed to extract the summary from the documents. There have been several algorithms on Text and Document summarizations, utilization various aspects of similarity measures, clustering, lexical rules and distance measures. It is understood from the literature that no single technique can give best interpretation or desired result in the summarization process. Therefore in this work we propose a summarization technique with document clustering and to improve its efficiency we will include demographic algorithm in this technique.


This paper compiles solutions of plastic η factors for standard and non-standard fracture toughness testing specimens, via detailed three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) analyses. Fracture toughness testing specimens include a middle cracked tension (M(T)) specimen, SE(B), single-edge cracked bar in tension (SE(T)) and C(T) specimen. The ligament-to-thickness ratio of the specimen is systematically varied. It is found that the use of the CMOD overall provides more robust experimental estimation than that of the LLD, for all cases considered in the present work. Moreover, the estimation based on the load- CMOD record is shown to be insensitive to the specimen thickness, and thus can be used for testing a specimen with any thickness.


We investigate the bit error probability (BEP) of a network using network coding (coded network). The network consists of independent binary noisy channels. An error marking algorithm is used to calculate the error weight (the number of erroneous bits) in the sinks. Hence, we can calculate the sink BEP of a coded network from the channel BEPs. Then we formulate the minimizing BEP problem. We show that coding schemes with the same flows may have different BEPs. Two approaches are given to reduce the complexity for the problem


AbstractA vertically nonuniform warming of the troposphere yields a lapse rate feedback by altering the infrared irradiance to space relative to that of a vertically uniform tropospheric warming. The lapse rate feedback is negative at low latitudes, as a result of moist convective processes, and positive at high latitudes, due to stable stratification conditions that effectively trap warming near the surface. It is shown that this feedback pattern leads to polar amplification of the temperature response induced by a radiative forcing. The results are obtained by suppressing the lapse rate feedback in the Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4). The lapse rate feedback accounts for 15% of the Arctic amplification and 20% of the amplification in the Antarctic region. The fraction of the amplification that can be attributed to the surface albedo feedback, associated with melting of snow and ice, is 40% in the Arctic and 65% in Antarctica. It is further found that the surface albedo and lapse rate f...


Deoxyribonucleic acid reassociation was used to determine relatedness among protei and providenciae and between these organisms and other members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The results indicate the following. (i)Proteus mirabilis, Prot. morganii, and Providencia stuartii are homogeneous species. (ii) Prot. vulgaris, Prot. rettgeri, and Prov. alcalifaciens each contain more than one deoxyribonucleic acid relatedness group. (iii) A group of urea-positive strains previously called Prot. rettgeri biogroup 5 are, in fact, members of Prov. stuartii. (iv)Prot. myxofaciens is a valid species. (v) Protei are only distantly related to all other Enterobacteriaceae. Taxonomic revisions consistent with these observations are discussed. These include a proposal to place the currently recognized species of Proteus into one of three genera: The genus Proteus, containing Prot. mirabilis Hauser, Prot. vulgaris Hauser, and Prot. myxofaciens Cosenza and Podgwaite; a separate genus Morganella Fulton, for Prot. morganii (Winslow et al.) Yale; and the genus Providencia containing Prov. alcalifaciens (De Salles Gomes) Ewing, Prov. stuartii (Buttiaux et al.) Ewing, and Prov. rettgeri comb, nov.


The question was asked whether ozone would act as a lung carcinogen in mice. To test the hypothesis, female strain A/J mice were exposed for 6 h/day, 5 days/week to 0.12 ppm, 0.5 ppm, or 1.0 ppm of ozone; control animals were kept in filtered air. No ozone-related deaths were observed at any time during the experiment. After 5 months, one-third of the animals were killed. The remaining animals were split into two groups: exposure to ozone continued for one group, whereas the other group was transferred into filtered air. Four months later, these animals were killed. No significant increase in lung tumor multiplicity (average number of tumors per lung) or lung tumor incidence (percentage of tumor-bearing animals) was found in the animals exposed to ozone when compared to animals kept in filtered air, regardless of ozone concentration. Morphometric analysis of lungs of animals exposed to the highest ozone concentration (1.0 ppm) showed a small, statistically not significant increase in centriacinar lesions. It was concluded that ozone is not a lung carcinogen in strain A/J mice at those exposure levels. Moreover, this mouse strain appears to be particularly resistant towards chronic ozone toxicity.


Background Studies on short-term upright quiet standing tasks have presented contradictory findings about postural control in people with Parkinson's disease (pwPD). Prolonged trial durations might better depict body sway and discriminate pwPD and controls. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate postural control in pwPD during a prolonged standing task. Methods A total of 26 pwPD and 25 neurologically healthy individuals performed 3 quiet standing trials (60 s) before completing a constrained prolonged standing task for 15 minutes. Motion capture was used to record body sway (Vicon, 100 Hz). To investigate the body sway behavior during the 15 minutes of standing, the analysis was divided into three 5-minute-long phases: early, middle, and late. The following body sway parameters were calculated for the anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions: velocity, root-mean-square, and detrended fluctuations analysis (DFA). The body sway area was also calculated. Two-way ANOVAs (group and phases) and 1-way ANOVA (group) were used to compare these parameters for the prolonged standing and quiet standing, respectively. Results pwPD presented smaller sway area (P < .001), less complexity (DFA; AP: P < .009; ML: P < .01), and faster velocity (AP: P < .002; ML: P < .001) of body sway compared with the control group during the prolonged standing task. Although the groups swayed similarly (no difference for sway area) during quiet standing, they presented differences in sway area during the prolonged standing task (P < .001). Conclusions Prolonged standing task reduced adaptability of the postural control system in pwPD. In addition, the prolonged standing task may better analyze the adaptability of the postural control system in pwPD.


In parallel with research focusing on the effectiveness of students and teachers, the content and impact of school social work have come to the forefront of international research discourses. In the Hungarian public education system, teachers had previously carried out social assistance tasks, but in September 2018, an external model of kindergarten and school social assistance activities was introduced, giving structure to the already existing work. No empirical studies have been performed on the results of implementation so far. Regarding this topic, our research question is, in what areas do parents and teachers expect the most from school social workers? To get answers, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 school social workers. During the analyses, we focused on the relationships established between parents and teachers, and also analysed partners' expectations. One of the most important results of the research is that, with social workers in mind, we created systematised parent and pedagogical types. We compared the services required by parents and teachers with the social assistance reform concept. We point out that while the Social Assistance Regulation empowers these professionals primarily for preventive, group and community activities, parents and teachers alike expect individual-focused assistance.


Introduction: The complications of IUDs are abnormal uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhea, expulsion of the IUD or perforation of the uterus. Due to these complications, 5 to 15 percent of women will stop using the IUD during one year. The most common complication of using IUDs is bleeding that is the cause of 15 to 30 percent of the rejection and exclusion of copper IUDs by the users. Except for progesterone IUDs, all IUDs can lead 50-100 percent increase in the amount of menstrual blood than before the insertion.Aim of the work: To compare between two types of copper IUDs which are different in shape and size (Cu375 and Cu380Ag) regarding bleeding pattern.Patients and Methods: This is a randomized controlled clinical trial. The study was conducted at Family Planning Outpatient Clinic at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Ain Shams Maternity Hospital on 220 patients divided into two groups with insignificant differences between two groups as regard age (p-value 0.934).Results: 110 participants recruited in each group. In group A, drop out after 1month was 6 women and only 70 women had subjective changes in bleeding pattern. After 1 year, drop out was 8 women. In group B, drop out after 1month was 4 women and only 79 women had subjective changes in bleeding pattern. After 1year, drop out was 5 women.Conclusion: One of the most common complications of IUD users is bleeding. These complications vary in the different types of IUDs. The results of this study showed that the use of the IUD ML CU 375 causes a significant decrease in the rate of bleeding.


Abstract : The response of the new high-explosive Flash X-ray Radiography Facility at Bunker 801 at LLNL Site 300 to explosions on its firing table has been measured. Seven charges of the high explosive C-4, with increasing weights of from 18 to 585 lb, were detonated. Charges were placed on a pea-gravel firing table on the radiographic axis 10 ft from the face of the steel bullnose protection plate. No noteworthly damage to the new building or its installed equipment occurred during these tests. Strains on 46 strain gauges were recorded during the explosive tests. During construction of the facility, these gauges had been welded to the steel reinforcing bars in various locations, or suspended between them, and were then embedded in structural concrete. The gauges recorded strains as high as 220 micro-in./in., which is equivalent to a stress of 5600 psi in steel. All elements of the structure remained well below their elastic limits, and should remain within these limits when subjected to detonations of up to 1000 lb of TNT on the firing table. The measured strains were less than those given by simple engineering calculations by factors of from 1.7 to 3.9. Several safety factors and conservative simplifying assumptions were included in the strain calculations, and this may account for the large differences.


One important objective in precision agriculture is to minimize the volume of herbicides that are applied to the fields through the use of site-specific weed management systems. In order to reach this goal, two major factors need to be considered: 1) the similar spectral signature, shape and texture between weeds and crops; 2) the irregular distribution of the weeds within the crop's field. This paper outlines an automatic computer vision system for the detection and differential spraying of Avena sterilis, a noxious weed growing in cereal crops. The proposed system involves two processes: image segmentation and decision making. Image segmentation combines basic suitable image processing techniques in order to extract cells from the image as the low level units. Each cell is described by two area-based attributes measuring the relations among the crops and the weeds. From these attributes, a hybrid decision making approach, under a Bayesian framework determines, if a cell must be or not sprayed. The hybrid approach uses the support vector machines for computing the prior probability in this Bayesian framework. This makes the main finding of this paper. The method performance is compared against other available strategies.


ABSTRACT Objective To measure the role of enterovirus detection in cerebrospinal fluid compared with the Bacterial Meningitis Score in children with meningitis. Methods A retrospective cohort based on analysis of medical records of pediatric patients diagnosed as meningitis, seen at a private and tertiary hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, between 2011 and 2014. Excluded were patients with critical illness, purpura, ventricular shunt or recent neurosurgery, immunosuppression, concomitant bacterial infection requiring parenteral antibiotic therapy, and those who received antibiotics 72 hours before lumbar puncture. Results The study included 503 patients. Sixty-four patients were excluded and 94 were not submitted to all tests for analysis. Of the remaining 345 patients, 7 were in the Bacterial Meningitis Group and 338 in the Aseptic Meningitis Group. There was no statistical difference between the groups. In the Bacterial Meningitis Score analysis, of the 338 patients with possible aseptic meningitis (negative cultures), 121 of them had one or more points in the Bacterial Meningitis Score, with sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 64.2%, and negative predictive value of 100%. Of the 121 patients with positive Bacterial Meningitis Score, 71% (86 patients) had a positive enterovirus detection in cerebrospinal fluid. Conclusion Enterovirus detection in cerebrospinal fluid was effective to differentiate bacterial from viral meningitis. When the test was analyzed together with the Bacterial Meningitis Score, specificity was higher when compared to Bacterial Meningitis Score alone.


For action recognition learning, 2D CNN-based methods are efficient but may yield redundant features due to applying the same 2D convolution kernel to each frame. Recent efforts attempt to capture motion information by establishing inter-frame connections while still suffering the limited temporal receptive field or high latency. Moreover, the feature enhancement is often only performed by channel or space dimension in action recognition. To address these issues, we first devise a Channel-wise Motion Enhancement (CME) module to adaptively emphasize the channels related to dynamic information with a channel-wise gate vector. The channel gates generated by CME incorporate the information from all the other frames in the video. We further propose a Spatial-wise Motion Enhancement (SME) module to focus on the regions with the critical target in motion, according to the point-to-point similarity between adjacent feature maps. The intuition is that the change of background is typically slower than the motion area. Both CME and SME have clear physical meaning in capturing action clues. By integrating the two modules into the off-the-shelf 2D network, we finally obtain a Comprehensive Motion Representation (CMR) learning method for action recognition, which achieves competitive performance on Something-Something V1 & V2 and Kinetics-400. On the temporal reasoning datasets Something-Something V1 and V2, our method outperforms the current state-of-the-art by 2.3% and 1.9% when using 16 frames as input, respectively.


This paper deals with a new algorithm called circularpaths for leader follower tracking with obstacle avoidanceusing. In leader-follower tracking, one robot acts as a leaderwith defined motion and the other robot acts as a follower whichposition itself in accordance with the position and orientation ofthe leader. The leader movement is dependent on an assignedtrajectory and the follower movement is dependent on thecircular paths algorithm. In each step, this algorithm constructsa circular path using three points represented by the next stepposition of the leader robot, the last step position and thecurrent step position of the follower robot. The next position ofthe follower robot lays on the circumstance of the circular pathand the orientation is represented by the tangent line to thiscircular path at this next position of the follower robot. Whenan obstacle intersect any circular path for the follower robot,then this path must be replaced by another circular pathconstruct from the two positions of the follower robot and theleader position is replaced by the tangent point to the obstacle.Simulation results illustrate the soundness of this algorithm.


A dysregulated immune response with hyperinflammation is observed in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of the present study was to assess the safety and potential benefits of human recombinant C1 esterase inhibitor (conestat alfa), a complement, contact activation and kallikrein-kinin system regulator, in severe COVID-19. Patients with evidence of progressive disease after 24 h including an oxygen saturation <93% at rest in ambient air were included at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland in April 2020. Conestat alfa was administered by intravenous injections of 8400 IU followed by 3 additional doses of 4200 IU in 12-h intervals. Five patients (age range, 53–85 years; one woman) with severe COVID-19 pneumonia (11–39% lung involvement on computed tomography scan of the chest) were treated a median of 1 day (range 1–7 days) after admission. Treatment was well-tolerated. Immediate defervescence occurred, and inflammatory markers and oxygen supplementation decreased or stabilized in 4 patients (e.g., median C-reactive protein 203 (range 31–235) mg/L before vs. 32 (12–72) mg/L on day 5). Only one patient required mechanical ventilation. All patients recovered. C1INH concentrations were elevated before conestat alfa treatment. Levels of complement activation products declined after treatment. Viral loads in nasopharyngeal swabs declined in 4 patients. In this uncontrolled case series, targeting multiple inflammatory cascades by conestat alfa was safe and associated with clinical improvements in the majority of severe COVID-19 patients. Controlled clinical trials are needed to assess its safety and efficacy in preventing disease progression.


Thе article criticize the concept of the right «is involved» from the standpoint of the general theory of law in the legal rationale for enforcement of the right processes. As the only channel through which the law is brought to life, the legal relations have a complex structure, in the disclosure of which the author presents his own position with respect to its constituent elements. It is proved that the main purpose of relationship is that it acts as a channel-specific implementation of the law. It is proved that the consistency of the individual will with the public, their general thrust contribute to the unity of legal and factual content of these social relations, contribute to the implementation of planned by the legislator to everyday life at all stages of the processes occurring at the same time. Elements of the legal relation are distinguished: legal entities; subjective rights and legal obligations; good behavior; object relationship; legal fact. In the article it is concluded that without these elements, considered in systemic unity with the subjects of legal relations and forms a specific legal integrity called legal relations can not be a theoretical model of enforcement of the right.


Deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) based supervised learning is a widely practiced approach for large-scale image classification. However, retraining these large networks to accommodate new, previously unseen data demands high computational time and energy requirements. Also, previously seen training samples may not be available at the time of retraining. We propose an efficient training methodology and incrementally growing DCNN to learn new tasks while sharing part of the base network. Our proposed methodology is inspired by transfer learning techniques, although it does not forget previously learned tasks. An updated network, for learning new set of classes, is formed using previously learned convolutional layers (shared from initial part of base network) with addition of few newly added convolutional kernels included in the later layers of the network. We employed a 'clone-and-branch' technique with calibration, which allows the network to learn new tasks (containing classes with similar features as old tasks) one after another without any performance loss in old tasks. We evaluated the proposed scheme on several recognition applications. The classification accuracy achieved by our approach is comparable to the regular incremental learning approach (where networks are updated with new training samples only, without any network sharing), while achieving energy efficiency, reduction in storage requirements, memory access and training time.


This paper uses an extended cost-benefit analysis to estimate the distributional effect of tobacco tax increases in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis considers the effect on household income of an increase in tobacco prices, changes in medical expenses, and the prolongation of working years under various scenarios, based on data in three waves of the national Household Budget Survey. One critical contribution is a quantification of the impacts by allowing price elasticities to vary across consumption deciles. The results indicate that a rise in tobacco prices generates positive income variations across the lowest income groups in the population (the bottom 20 percent). At the same time, tobacco price increases have negative income effects among middle-income and upper-income groups. These effects are larger, the higher the income level. If benefits through lower medical expenses and an expansion in working years are considered, the positive effect is acerbated among the lowest income groups. The middle of the distribution sees the income effect turn from negative to positive, and the top 40 percent, although continuing to experience a negative effect, see the magnitude of this effect diminish. Altogether, these effects mean that increases in tobacco prices have a pro-poor, progressive effect in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These results also hold within entities and across urban and rural areas.


At the beginning of the twenty-first century, before the power of online social networking became apparent, several studies speculated about the likely structure of organised cybercrime. In the light of new data on cybercriminal organisations, this paper sets out to revisit their claims. This paper examines the structure of organised cybercrime by analysing data from online underground markets previously in operation over the Internet. In order to understand the various structures of organised cybercrime which have manifested, theories are drawn from social psychology, organised crime and transaction cost economics (TCE). Since the focus is on how uncertainty is mitigated in trading among cybercriminals, uncertainty is treated as a cost to the transactions and is used as the unit of analysis to examine the mechanisms cybercriminals use to control two key sources of uncertainty: the quality of merchandise and the identity of the trader. The findings indicate that carding forums facilitate organised cybercrime because they offer a hybrid form of organisational structure that is able to address sources of uncertainty and minimise transaction costs to an extent that allows a competitive underground market to emerge. The findings from this study can be used to examine other online applications that could facilitate the online underground economy.


The solution to the problem of how long a present valve maximizing forester should let trees grow has a long history in the literature of economics and forestry. Until recently, however, the comparative statics of the forestry problem when there are two decision variables, an initial input at the time of regeneration of the stand and the rotation period, had not been investigated. In this paper we offer a generalization, clarification, and extension of some recent works in this area.


The link between atherosclerosis and wall shear stress (WSS) has lead to considerable interest in the in vivo estimation of WSS. Both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and three-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) are capable of providing the anatomical and flow data required for subject-specific computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. This study compares, for the first time, predicted 3D flow patterns based on black blood MRI and 3DUS. Velocity fields in the carotid arteries of nine subjects have been reconstructed, and the haemodynamic wall parameters WSS, oscillatory shear index (OSI), WSS gradients (WSSG) and angle gradients (WSSAG) were computed and compared. There was a good qualitative agreement between results derived from MRI and 3DUS, embodied by a strong linear correlation between the patched representations of the haemodynamic wall parameters. The root-mean-square error between haemodynamic wall parameters was comparable to the range of the expected variability of each imaging technique (WSS: 0.411 N/m; OSI: 0.048; temporal WSSG: 2.29 N/(s.m/sup 2/); spatial WSSG: 150 N/m/sup 3/; WSSAG: 87.6 rad/m). In conclusion, MRI and 3DUS are comparable techniques for combining with CFD in the carotid artery. The relatively high cost of MRI favour 3DUS to MRI for future haemodynamic studies of superficial arteries.


The effects of SR 33557 on isolated cardiovascular preparations were compared to those of nifedipine, verapamil and diltiazem. In rat aortic strips, SR 33557, like nifedipine, verapamil and diltiazem, caused a significant and simultaneous inhibition of potassium-induced 45Ca++ influx and contractile responses (nifedipine greater than SR 33557 greater than verapamil greater than diltiazem). SR 33557 also antagonized Ca(++)-induced contractions in K(+)-depolarized aorta preparations (pA2:9.08 +/- 0.03) and is the first calcium channel antagonist, structurally not related to 1,4-dihydropyridines, to inhibit competitively contractions induced by BAY K8644. In spike-generating vascular smooth muscle (rat portal vein), contractures evoked by noradrenaline (4 microM) or KCl (100 mM) were reduced by all four antagonists, the pharmacological potency being nifedipine greater than SR 33557 greater than verapamil greater than diltiazem. Unlike SR 33557, nifedipine, verapamil and diltiazem showed a parallel enhancement of frequency of spontaneous contractions in rat portal vein in spite of a concentration-related reduction in amplitude. By using rabbit atrial preparations, spontaneous right atrial rate and electrically stimulated (120/min) basal contractions of left atria were used as indices of chronotropy and inotropy. The potency series for negative chronotropic effects was nifedipine greater than SR 33557 greater than verapamil greater than diltiazem. For negative inotropic effects the potency order was verapamil greater than nifedipine greater than SR 33557 greater than diltiazem, respectively. Thus, SR 33557 should depress heart rate to a greater extent than ventricular contractility. These results suggest that SR 33557 is a potent calcium entry blocker that (unlike verapamil and diltiazem) is particularly selective for vascular smooth muscle and devoid of any potent negative inotropic actions.


The search for best conditions in liquid chromatography is routinely carried out with information provided by chemical standards. However, sometimes there are samples with insufficient knowledge about their chemical composition. In other cases, identities of the components are known, but there are no standards available, and in other cases the identities of peaks in chromatograms taken under different conditions are ambiguous. Most resolution criteria used to measure separation performance cannot be applied to these samples. In this work, a global resolution function valid for all situations was developed based on automatic measurements of peak prominences (area fraction exceeding the line that joins the valleys delimiting each peak). Relative performance is evaluated against the peak purity criterion (which measures the area free of overlapping). Peak purity provides a truly comprehensive measurement of global resolution since the underlying signals for each compound are used. However, it is only accessible through in silico simulations. In contrast, peak prominences are not based on a comprehensive knowledge of the individual signals, and can be obtained from experimental chromatograms besides in silico simulations. Therefore, this criterion is suitable for direct evaluation of the resolution of chromatograms with high complexity. A comparison study was carried out based on the agreement of the gradients chosen as Pareto-optimal by both criteria, using information from standards of the 19 primary amino acids found in proteins. The developed global resolution function was applied with success to chromatographic fingerprints of medicinal herbs.


When discussing asthma, one may have to ignore this rule. Harris et al. have shown that a significant number of Aboriginal children of less than five years of age are admitted to hospital for the treatment of asthma. They rightly point out the difficulty of differentiating between bronchiolitis and asthma in this age group. They do not tell the reader whether those Aboriginal children had any non-Aboriginal descent. This seems important as it is the experience of many who work in Aboriginal communities that asthma is not only rare, but possibly previously unknown in those of totally Aboriginal descent. The authors state that "the gradual improvement in living standards should see a decline in the number of admissions for respiratory illness". One wonders if in view of the age distribution of Aboriginal children with asthma in the series, they feel that there may be a future rise in the number of Aboriginal children with asthma from the community who will require their hospital services? John E. Thompson, FRACP Cairns Hospital Thoracic Annexe PO Box 902 Cairns, QLD 4870 I. Harris L, Knight J, Henderson R. Morbidity patterns in a general paediatric unit in rural Western Australia. Med J Aust 1986; 145: 441-443.


BACKGROUND
A cytologic reading of a Papanicolaou (pap) smear followed, if the result is positive, by a colposcopic search for abnormal cells is the most common screening method for cervical cancer used worldwide. We aimed to present the correlation of smear and colposcopic findings with 6- to 12-month follow-up results and related factors in women who underwent colposcopy in Turkey.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study population consisted of women who attended the gynecology department and were referred for colposcopic evaluation in 2011-2012. A total of 232 women between ages 17 and 68 years were included. Colposcopy indications were ASCUS and higher lesions at cervical smear, macroscopic suspicious lesions, post-coital bleeding history with suspicious smear, and repeated cervical inflammation. All patients were recalled for 6- to 12-month follow-ups.

RESULTS
The most common colposcopy indication was ASCUS, and the most common biopsy result was inflammation. Nearly half of the patients returned for the control 6-month follow-up, and almost 20% of patients for a 1-year follow up.

CONCLUSIONS
Colposcopic biopsy is an effective method in indicated patients but is not sufficient in itself if awareness of the subject is not raised in the population. One of the most important aims of cancer screening programs should be enabling patients in developing countries to take responsibility. Patients must be encouraged to apply to the hospital for better disease control.


This discussion considers the role and findings of ethnographic research within a clinical trial of supported employment for veterans with spinal cord injury. Contributing to qualitative evaluation research and to debates over anthropological evidence vis-à-vis clinical trials, we demonstrate how enactors of a randomized controlled trial can simultaneously attend to both the trial's evidentiary and procedural requirements and to the lived experiences and needs of patients and clinicians. Three major findings are described: (1) contextual information essential to fidelity efforts within the trial; (2) the role of human interrelationships and idiosyncratic networks in the trial's success; and (3) a mapping of the power and authority structures relevant to the staff's ability to perform the protocol. We emphasize strengths of anthropological ethnography in clinical trials that include the provision of complementary, qualitative data, the capture of otherwise unmeasured parts of the trial, and the realization of important information for the translation of the clinical findings into new settings.


BACKGROUND
Studies have documented the underrepresentation of women and blacks in clinical trials, and their recruitment is now federally mandated. However, little is known about the level of participation of elderly patients. We determined the rates of enrollment of patients 65 years of age or older in trials of treatment for cancer.

METHODS
We analyzed data on 16,396 patients consecutively enrolled in 164 Southwest Oncology Group treatment trials between 1993 and 1996 according to sex, race (black or white), and age under 65 years or 65 or older. These rates were compared with the corresponding rates in the general population of patients with cancer, derived from the 1990 U.S. Census and from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program for the period from 1992 through 1994. Fifteen types of cancer were included in the analysis.

RESULTS
The overall proportions of women and blacks enrolled in Southwest Oncology Group trials were similar to or the same as the estimated proportions in the U.S. population of patients with cancer (women, 41 percent and 43 percent; blacks, 10 percent and 10 percent, respectively). In contrast, patients 65 years of age or older were underrepresented overall (25 percent vs. 63 percent, P<0.001) and in trials involving all 15 types of cancer except lymphoma. The underrepresentation was particularly notable in trials of treatment for breast cancer (9 percent vs. 49 percent, P<0.001). The findings were similar when data on patients who were 70 years of age or older were analyzed, when 15 trials that excluded older patients were eliminated from the analysis, and when community-based enrollment was analyzed separately from enrollment at academic centers.

CONCLUSIONS
There is substantial underrepresentation of patients 65 years of age or older in studies of treatment for cancer. The reasons should be clarified, and policies adopted to correct this underrepresentation.


Aim: To assess the prevalence of Schistosomiasis in adjacent human communities along the River Kochi, West Nile region of Uganda in relation to the presence of infected Biomphalaria snails Study Design: A combination of cross sectional field survey and laboratory analysis Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted between October 2007 and March 2008 along the River Kochi in the West Nile Region, Uganda. Methodology: Five sites along this river that were approximately 20km apart were selected. Stool samples were collected from 40 randomly selected families, 20 living within 3km from the river banks and 20 beyond 3km. Four hundred and eighty nine stool samples (157 from children, 159 from adolescents and 173 from adults) were analysed and examined using standard methods for the presence of Schistosoma Mansoni cercariae on a monthly for a period of six months. Biomphalaria species snails living in the river were collected using a sweep net and screened for the presence of S. mansoni Original Research Article International Journal of TROPICAL DISEASE & Health, 4(6): 729-739, 2014 730 cercariae. A generalised Linear Model was used to establish associations between human parasitic infections with age and gender. Spearman's rank correlations coefficient was used to explore the relationship between infected Biomphalaria snail numbers and infection incidence in humans. Results: Percentage infection of 24.1% (118/459) was recorded. Prevalence of Schistosomiasis was lower in children than in adolescents (P=.001) and adults (P=.013), and was overall slightly higher in males than females (P=.014). A Spearman's rank correlations coefficient of (rs=.710) revealed that there was a link between infected Biomphalaria snail numbers and infection incidence in humans. Conclusion: From the results it appears that Schistosomiasis is still present in West Nile region and is associated with the presence of infected Biomphalaria snail species. Male adolescents and adults are more prone to infection than the females. There is need for regular surveys and continuous Schistosomiasis education to the communities.


This study determined the information needs of farmers involved in rabbit production in Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State. Sixty respondents involved in rabbit production were purposively selected, sampled and interviewed through a well structured interview schedule. The data obtained wered cumulative percentages while Chi-square The various area where information is needed by the farmers involved in rabbit production include: identification of various rabbit diseases, factors parasites, appropriate number of rabbits per cage, housing pattern, sources of suitable rabbit breeds, types of feed available for rabbits raphic characteristics of the farmers involved in rabbit production and also revealed the different sources of information available to the Statistically, it was revealed that there was significant relationship between respondents' ucation, contact with extension agents and number of rabbits kept and their information square tabulated values in each factor.


Imaging of vascular calcification is increasingly used for cardiovascular screening purposes in asymptomatic patients. Coronary and aortic calcium deposits in the vascular wall have been shown to be related to atherosclerotic plaque burden. New imaging techniques with electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) and multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT), to measure the calcium content in the coronary arteries, are promising methods for clinical risk assessment. However, the rising costs of these emerging cardiac imaging techniques and the radiation exposure involved demand a more critical evaluation of already existing and less expensive technology. In this thesis we have investigated whether arterial calcifications that are frequently seen on mammograms may serve as a screening tool for atherosclerotic risk assessment in women. The simultaneous use of mammograms for screening on breast cancer and atherosclerotic disease could be very cost-effective. Based on our findings in two different populations of women we can now conclude that the major determinants of medial calcification in the breast arteries are age, diabetes, previous pregnancies and lactation after pregnancy. The mechanisms of BAC are comparable to the medial calcification that is seen in the peripheral vessels of diabetics and in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD). In diabetics, hyperglycaemia is an important determinant for medial sclerosis and not the classic CHD risk factors. High glucose can induce proliferation of VSMC into calcifying cells, but other metabolic stimuli in patients with diabetes, like hyperinsulinemia and glycoxidation products, can also promote the calcifying process. In patients with ESRD the uptake of calcium by VSMC is multifactorial and enhanced by elevated extracellular calcium- and phosphate levels, secondary hyperparathyreoidism and uremic toxins. The wide-spread use of calcium containing oral phosphate binders, to prevent uremic dystrophy, further promote the calcifying process. The alterated mineral metabolism during pregnancy and lactation is presumably the most important causative factor in the occurrence of BAC. Pregnancy is associated with major changes in the calcium metabolism to meet the high requirements for foetal growth and for breast-milk production. Some biochemical proteins of bone resorption and formation (e.g. osteocalcin, bone morphogenic protein) are elevated in the first months of lactation and are also found in calcified vascular tissues. We assume that when calcium is more available in the (breast) circulation, like during pregnancy and lactation, vascular smooth muscle cells can become activated and promote mineralization. Another common factor in the enhancement of vascular calcification in pregnant women and patients with ESRD may be caused by elevated levels of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP). PTHrP is expressed in a variety of bone and vascular tissues and causes hypercalcaemia. The production of PTHrP by the lactating mammary gland may be an explanation for the association of BAC with breastfeeding.


Renal angiotensin II (ANG II) is increased as a result of unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO), and angiotensin AT(2) receptors predominate over AT(1) receptors in the early postnatal period. To examine the renal cellular response to 3-day UUO in the neonatal and adult rat, AT(1) and AT(2) receptors were inhibited by losartan and PD-123319, respectively. Additional rats received exogenous ANG II, 0.5 mg. kg(-1). day(-1). Renal cellular proliferation and apoptosis were quantitated by proliferating cell nuclear antigen and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling technique, respectively. In the neonate, UUO reduced proliferation and increased tubular apoptosis. Losartan had no detectable cellular effect, whereas PD-123319 increased cellular proliferation and suppressed apoptosis, and exogenous ANG II stimulated apoptosis. In the adult, UUO increased cellular proliferation as well as apoptosis, whereas losartan, PD-123319, and exogenous ANG II did not alter the cellular response. In conclusion, UUO impairs renal growth in the neonate by reducing proliferation and stimulating apoptosis, at least in part through angiotensin AT(2) receptors. UUO stimulates both renal cellular proliferation and apoptosis in the adult, but these effects are independent of ANG II. We speculate that the unique early responses of the developing kidney to urinary tract obstruction are mediated by a highly activated renin-angiotensin system and preponderance of AT(2) receptors.


Approximately one-third of pregnancies end in loss; however, the natural history of early pregnancy loss, including signs and symptoms preceding loss, has yet to be fully described and its underlying mechanisms fully understood. We searched PubMed/MEDLINE and Embase to identify articles with prospective ascertainment of signs and symptoms, including vaginal bleeding, nausea, and vomiting, of pregnancy loss < 20 weeks gestation in spontaneous conceptions to ascertain existing literature on symptomatology of pregnancy loss. Two preconception and 16 pregnancy cohort studies that ascertained information on bleeding and/or nausea/vomiting prior to pregnancy loss ascertainment were included. Data from these studies indicated increased risk of loss with vaginal bleeding and decreased risk of loss with nausea/vomiting, though these studies were mostly comprised of pregnancies surviving into late first trimester. While such associations are biologically plausible, these study designs are subject to bias, given recruitment of women at later gestational ages and reliance on women presenting to care. Reporting symptoms to clinicians and over long periods may introduce reporting error. Data gaps remain regarding (1) relationships between signs and symptoms and losses occurring very early, prior to care entry; (2) empirical testing of whether relationships between signs and symptoms and loss differ across gestational age; (3) whether similar relationships between signs and symptoms and loss are observed in populations using assisted reproductive technologies; (4) the patterning of multiple signs and symptoms in relation to loss; and (5) how hormonal and physiologic adaptions to early pregnancy relate to symptomatology and pregnancy loss.


Traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) is the affectation of the visual function, secondary to a damage caused by a direct or indirect traumatic mechanism over the optic nerve. It occurs in approximately 0.5 to 5% of closed head injuries, and in 2.5% of patients with maxillofacial trauma and mid-face fractures. The types of TON are direct, anterior indirect, posterior indirect, and chiasmal. This work aims to offer an updating in traumatic optic neuropathy. We made a search in international data bases such as PubMed, ClinicalTrial, Ebsco, Hinari and so on, and found 32 articles which were used in this review article. We used the following keywords: traumatic optic neuropathy, optic nerve, trauma, visual loss, visual disease. 70% of the articles correspond to the last five years. This review was redacted using Microsoft Office Word 2016 in a laptop Asus with Window 10 system. We made a compilation with diverse therapeutic options based principally in axonal regeneration developed by researchers during the last decade.  The present review article provides an updating regarding potential strategies for axonal regeneration and optic nerve repair, focusing on the researches of many investigators around the world. Nowadays, therapeutic options have advanced in many fields, but still more researches must be done to find a definitive solution for traumatic optic neuropathy in a near future.

 Key words: Traumatic optic neuropathy, optic nerve, trauma, visual loss, visual disease.


The purpose of the DfID English in Action Project (EIA) currently running in Bangladesh is to 'increase significantly the number of people able to communicate in English, to levels that enable them to participate fully in economic and social activities and opportunities' (EIA, 2008). Supported open learning initiatives will employ media and technologies to supplement and enhance the learning and teaching of communicative English among school students, teachers and adults throughout Bangladesh. The comprehensive programme of research, monitoring and evaluation activities that accompany the project will demonstrate evidence of success and lessons learned from initiatives over the lifetime of the project, scheduled to complete in 2017. This paper focuses on detailing distinctive ways in which 'success' should be articulated, arguing that both qualitative and quantitative approaches are required in order to fully understand the outcomes of the Project. It highlights the need for a wide range of stakeholders to engage with, examine and fully comprehend the extent to which quality outcomes from the project initiatives have potentially touched and impacted upon individual lives.


This study was undertaken to evaluate the use of tissue-engineered bone as grafting material for alveolar augmentation with simultaneous implant placement. Twelve adult hybrid dogs were used in this study. One month after the extraction of teeth in the mandible region, bone defects on both sides of the mandible were induced using a trephine bar with a diameter of 10 mm. Dog mesenchymal stem cells (dMSCs) were obtained via iliac bone biopsy and cultured for 4 weeks before implantation. After installing the dental implants, the defects were simultaneously implanted with the following graft materials: (i) fibrin, (ii) dMSCs and fibrin (dMSCs/fibrin), (iii) dMSCs, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and fibrin (dMSCs/PRP/fibrin) and (iv) control (defect only). The implants were assessed by histological and histomorphometric analysis, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after implantation. The implants exhibited varying degrees of bone-implant contact (BIC). The BIC was 17%, 19% and 29% (control), 20%, 22% and 25% (fibrin), 22%, 32% and 42% (dMSCs/fibrin) and 25%, 49% and 53% (dMSCs/PRP/fibrin) after 2, 4 and 8 weeks, respectively. This study suggests that tissue-engineered bone may be of sufficient quality for predictable enhancement of bone regeneration around dental implants when used simultaneous by with implant placement.


Objective: 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) is a chemotherapeutic agent in the antimetabolite class. It has to go through the metabolic pathway to form 6-methyl MP (6-MMP). This study aimed to obtain an optimum and validated method for the analysis of 6-MP and 6-MMP in dried blood spot (DBS) samples simultaneously and to evaluate the potential for future drug concentration monitoring in DBS samples. Methods: The quality control and calibration curves were made by spotting 40 μL blood on DBS paper and dried for 3 hrs. DBS papers were cut with a diameter of 8 mm and extracted with acetonitrile-methanol (1:3) containing internal standard 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Separation was performed with waters acquity ultra performance liquid chromatography BEH C18 column of 1.7 μm (2.1×100 mm) with a mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic acid in water 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile with gradient elution and a flow rate of 0.2 mL/minute. Mass detection was performed using Waters Xevo TQD with positive electrospray ionization (ESI) for 6-MP and 6-MMP and negative ESI for 5-FU in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. Results: The detection rates of 6-MP, 6-MMP, and 5-FU were 153.09>119.09, 167.17>126.03, and 129.09>42.05, respectively. This method was linear with the range at 26-1000 ng/mL for 6-MP and 13-500 ng/mL for 6-MMP with consecutive r≥0.998 and ≥0.999, respectively. The % relative error value and % relative standard deviation for accuracy and precision of intraday and interday were not more than 15% and not more than 20% at the lower limit of quantification concentration, respectively. Conclusions: This method fulfilled the requirements of selectivity, linearity, carry over, and matrix effects referring to the European Medicines Agency guidelines.


Modern medicine has crossed almost every boundary author imagined being eternal mere years ago. They can achieve results that never imagined possible. Uncurable diseases have become manageable, some even can be cured. However, basic principles of preserving patient health and of regaining it unfortunately seem to have been forgotten or even worse ignored. Invest 30 valuable minutes in remembering ancient news and commonplace knowledge and reflect upon yourself. Do you care enough about you? Could you easily contribute to the health of your loved ones and last not least your patients? Thirty minutes of precise recommendations will empower you to add the foundation to persisting health to whatever therapy your patient is undergoing. Ignoring these basic principles will inadvertently diminish and jeopardize.


The intestinal absorption of ten steroid hormones was evaluated in the rat small intestine, especially focusing on the interaction with intestinal P-glycoprotein (P-gp). Hydrocortisone, prednisolone, 6alpha-methylprednisolone, and dexamethasone (adrenocortical steroid hormones) all disappeared in a regional-dependent manner (duodenum>jejunum>ileum). The decreased rate of disappearance in the lower small intestine seemed to be due to the involvement of absorption barriers like P-gp. In contrast, all sex hormones including progesterone exhibited very high absorbability in the entire small intestine (duodenum=jejunum=ileum), possibly demonstrating the absence of restricted absorption by intestinal P-gp. Progesterone enhanced the rate of disappearance of vinblastine but did not affect 6alpha-methylprednisolone. In the presence of vinblastine and verapamil, on the other hand, the rate of disappearance of 6alpha-methylprednisolone increased significantly. It was demonstrated that there was a plural P-gp family, which had different substrate specificities, in the rat intestine and that steroid hormones interacted with them as substrates or inhibitors in a very complex manner.


[1] Rainfall intensity and spatiotemporal patterns often show a strong dependence on the underlying terrain. The main objective of this work is to study the statistical signature imprinted by orography on the spatial structure of rainfall and its temporal evolution at multiple scales, with the aim of developing a consistent theoretical basis for conditional downscaling of precipitation given the topographic information of the underlying terrain. The results of an extensive analysis of the high-resolution stage II Doppler radar data of the Rapidan storm, June 1995, over the Appalachian Mountains is reported in this study. The orographic signature on the elementary statistical structure of the precipitation fields is studied via a variable-intensity thresholding scheme. This signature is further explored at multiple scales via analysis of the dependence of precipitation fields on the underlying terrain both in Fourier and wavelet domains. The generalized normal distribution is found to be a suitable probability model to explain the variability of the rainfall wavelet coefficients and its dependence on the underlying elevations. These results provide a new perspective for more accurate statistical downscaling of orographic precipitation over complex terrain with emphasis on preservation of extremes.


The Salicaceae family is of growing interest in the study of dioecy in plants because the sex determination region (SDR) has been shown to be highly dynamic, with differing locations and heterogametic systems between species. Without the ability to transform and regenerate Salix in tissue culture, previous studies investigating the mechanisms regulating sex in the genus Salix have been limited to genome resequencing and differential gene expression, which are mostly descriptive in nature, and functional validation of candidate sex determination genes has not yet been conducted. Here we used Arabidopsis to functionally characterize a suite of previously identified candidate genes involved in sex determination and sex dimorphism in the bioenergy shrub willow Salix purpurea. Six candidate master regulator genes for sex determination were heterologously expressed in Arabidopsis, followed by floral proteome analysis. In addition, 11 transcription factors with predicted roles in mediating sex dimorphism downstream of the SDR were tested using DAP-Seq in both male and female S. purpurea DNA. The results of this study provide further evidence to support models for the roles of ARR17 and GATA15 as master regulator genes of sex determination in S. purpurea, contributing to a regulatory system that is notably different from that of its sister genus Populus. Evidence was also obtained for the roles of two transcription factors, an AP2/ERF family gene and a homeodomain-like transcription factor, in downstream regulation of sex dimorphism.


This research aimed to develop and provide initial validation of the Sport Imagery Ability Questionnaire (SIAQ). The SIAQ assesses athletes' ease of imaging different types of imagery content. Following an extensive pilot study, 375 athletes completed a 20-item SIAQ in Study 1. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 4-factor model assessing skill, strategy, goal, and affect imagery ability. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) established this 4-factor structure in Study 2 (N = 363 athletes). In Study 3 (N = 438 athletes), additional items were added to create a fifth mastery imagery subscale that was confirmed through CFA. Study 4 (N = 220 athletes) compared the SIAQ to the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3. Significant bivariate correlations (p < .05) confirmed the SIAQ's concurrent validity but demonstrated differences in imagery ability of different content. Overall, the SIAQ demonstrates good factorial validity, internal and temporal reliability, invariance across gender, and an ability to distinguish among athletes of different competitive levels. Findings highlight the importance of separately assessing imagery ability of different content.


The paper is aimed at examining the market reaction on announcements about dividend payments of Russian companies. Though there are numerous papers devoted to this problem, their results are controversial, and they are rather related to developed markets than to developing economies. The understanding of signals that dividend announcements give companies' shareholders and potential investors is important because it helps to improve the quality of investment and financial decisions.The peculiarity of this paper is that different sectors of economy are analyzed separately. The difference in reaction in different sectors of economy is revealed. The research is based on the event study methodology. The data sample consists of 115 announcements of Russian public companies for the period of 2009-2013.


Traditional methods for image scene interpretation and understanding are based mainly on such single threaded procedural paradigms as hypothesize-and-test or syntactic parsing. As a result, these systems are unable to carry out tasks that require concurrent hypotheses. In this paper we describe a method for symbolically interpreting images based upon a parallel implementation of a network-of-frames suggested, for example, by Minsky (1975) to describe intelligent infunction processing. The system has been implemented in an object-oriented environment in the logic programming language PARLOG++ and includes the propagation of uncertainty through each frame (object) using Baldwin's (1986) formulation. The system is illustrated with the legal interpretation of traf-c intersection images.


OF DISSERTATION AN EXAMINATION OF MATERNAL STRESS AND SECONDHAND SMOKE EXPOSURE ON PERINATAL SMOKING STATUS The median prevalence of smoking among women of childbearing age in the United States is 22.4%. Of women who identify themselves as smokers in the three months prior to conception, 55% quit during pregnancy; however, 40% of those who quit relapse and return to smoking within six months after delivery. Smoking has been identified as an important means of stress management among smokers in general, and though limited to the perinatal period, pregnancy-specific stress adds to a woman's typical day-to-day stress burden. Little data exists as to the effect of SHS exposure on smoking status during pregnancy and the impact of SHS exposure on the maternal perception of stress is unknown. Due to limited evidence, a critical need exists to examine the relationships of perceived maternal stress, SHS exposure, and perinatal smoking status in order to better understand perinatal smoking behaviors. The purposes of this dissertation were to: 1) evaluate the literature examining the relationship between the variables of maternal stress, SHS exposure, and perinatal smoking status; 2) determine the reliability and validity of the Everyday Stressors Index (ESI) use in pregnant women; and 3) to investigate the impacts of maternal perception of everyday stress, and SHS exposure on perinatal smoking status. Evidence obtained from the critical review of the literature supported an association between psychosocial stress and smoking during pregnancy or postpartum. Little information regarding the role of SHS exposure on perinatal smoking status was discovered. Psychometric testing of the ESI demonstrated strong internal consistency reliability, and factor analysis yielded three factors capturing three important domains of everyday stress. SHS exposure emerged as the most significant predictor of smoking status. Persistent smokers/relapsers had the highest ESI scores, followed by quitters, and then nonsmokers. While ESI means decreased in all smoking status groups from the first to the third trimester, the magnitude of decrease was not predictive. A significant interaction effect of SHS exposure in the home and decrease in ESI score occurred in the quit group only with quitters 1.14 times more likely to experience a decrease in ESI score compared to smokers/relapsers.


With the continued emergence of multi-drug resistant genes and drug-resistant bacteria, the functions and applications of traditional antibiotics are challenged. Thus, products that can be combined with existing antibiotics or replace them are of great interest to the research and medical communities. As a natural parasite of bacteria, phages have been reconsidered for use in treating super or drug-resistant bacterial infections. The main aim of this study was to isolate new phages from hospital sewage, especially those with broad-spectrum infectivity for the establishment of an Escherichia phage library. According to differences in their infection spectrum, bacteriophages were identified using a plaque method. In total, 18 E. coli phages were isolated from hospital sewage. The characteristics of the wide host spectrum E. coli bacteriophage E12P1 were further studied. Electronic micrographs indicated that phage E12P1 had a cubic symmetry and a long tail. The growth curve suggested the incubation time was 30 min, the burst phase was 20 min, and the burst size was 43. This plaque-forming method could be adopted to isolate E. coli phage easily, rapidly and in large quantities. Among the 18 isolated E. coli phages, 10 of them had a broad host range in E. coli and warrant further study. Key words : Escherichia coli phages, large-scale isolation, drug resistance, biological properties.


The self-assembled fabrication of large-area opal photonic crystals (PCs) that are free of cracks has remained a challenge which greatly limits the practicality of such a structure in optical and electronic applications. We report a new route in this paper for fabricating centimeter scale crack-free opal PC films in which the latex spheres are bound together through coordination bonds. The elimination of cracks in the PCs is attributed to the formation of metal ion–polymer latex spheres coordination complexes which is confirmed by shifts of the binding energy of the metal ion after the reaction. The coordination bonds enhance the interactions between the polymer latex spheres, which can neutralize the adhesion stress caused by the substrate and tension stress caused by the shrinkage of the latex spheres during the evaporation of solvent. The as-prepared PC films show a uniform diffraction color and excellent reflection properties, which proves that the formation of coordination bonds does not weaken the contrasts of the refractive index or the optical quality of the PCs. This facile fabrication of large area, crack-free opal PCs will offer significant insight into the preparation and applications of PCs in optical devices.


Abstract Question: Which is the response of the evergreen Quercus ilex and the deciduous Q. cerrioides to repeated disturbances? Location: central Catalonia (northeastern Spain), in the areas affected by two of the largest historically recorded wildfires in NE Spain: the Bages-Berguedà fire (24 300 ha forested area burned in July 1994), and the Solsonès fire (14 300 ha burned in 1998). Methods: Survival and growth of individuals of Quercus ilex and Q. cerrioides were evaluated in plants subjected to different fire histories and experimental disturbances (burning, cutting or clipping) applied either before or after summer. Results: Survival was high (> 99%), with both species showing a similar high resistance to disturbances. Growth after experimental disturbance was positively related to the size of the individual before the latest forest fire occurred. Fire history had a large effect on resprout growth, as the repeated incidence of disturbances lowered the capacity of individuals to grow. The type and season of experimental disturbance experienced by plants had a large effect. Individuals that experienced total above-ground loss had lower growth rates than those with partial loss. A similar pattern was observed in individuals disturbed after the summer in relation to those disturbed before summer. Conclusions: The larger growth rates recorded in Q. cerrioides across all fire histories and experimental treatments, and the higher vulnerability of Q. ilex to increased fire frequency, intensity of experimental disturbance, and disturbance season, provide evidence for the relatively high susceptibility of the latter to repeated disturbances. This view disagrees with the larger resilience of this species compared to co-existing deciduous oaks, as reported.


Silicon oxide nanostructures have attracted extensive interests in recent years due to their physical and optical properties. SiOx nanostructures are synthesized by catalytic and non-catalytic approaches. With catalytic approach, long and uniform amorphous silicon oxide nanowires, nanofibers (comet and tree like), nanocakes and nanocages were synthesized on Si substrate by carbothermal evaporation reactions of TiO2 at high temperature. The SiOx nanowires were about 13 nm to 243 nm in diameters and 194 nm to several microns in length and the nanofibres with diameter between 8 nm to 30 nm and around 50 nm to 2.5μm in length. The diameter and density of SiOx nanostructures were modified by controlling the size, distribution and thickness layer of the Au particles on substrate surface by annealing process. The average lowest diameter was found as 37 nm with 6.8 nm gold layer thickness. In non-catalytic part the obtained SiOx nanostructures diameters were about from 60 nm to 300 nm and several microns in length. The formation of cracks on the silicon substrate surface found to be due to the evaporation of silicon monoxide at ≥900°C.
It was found that increased temperature, C:TiO2 ratio and deposition time increases the yield of the growth of SiOx nanostructures. The highest yield for SiOx nanowires growth is obtained at 10 sccm Ar flow rate. The XRD and FTIR results confirmed that the obtained SiOx nanowires are amorphous.
The SiOx nanostructures PL consist of UV peak centred at 350 nm (3.54 eV), one wide peak in the blue and green regions (400-600 nm) and red band cantered at 730 nm. A broad emission band from 290 to 600 nm is observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of these nanostructures. There are four PL peaks:
I
one UV, two emissions in green bluish region and one red emission. PL higher intensity in the case of non catalytic wires is due to the higher oxygen vacancies.
We believed that the assistance of carbon is the most important factor to enhance the fabrication of beta-type silicon carbide nanowires. The grown β-SiC nanowires were aligned in shape with almost same height and with diameter ranged between 40 to 500 nm. The majority of crystal planes are planes of β-SiC (111) with other less intensity of (200), (220) and (311). The effect of parametric studies (substrate location, Ar and O2 flowrate, rapid heating rate) on the growth of β-SiC nanowires was carried out. The FTIR results reveal that the most chemical bonds were single Si-C, which can be related to the obtained β-SiC nanostructure.


Among the scientific objectives addressed by the Radio Science Experiment hosted on board the ESA mission BepiColombo is the retrieval of the rotational state of planet Mercury. In fact, the estimation of the obliquity and the librations amplitude were proven to be fundamental for constraining the interior composition of Mercury. This is accomplished by the Mercury Orbiter Radio science Experiment (MORE) via a strict interaction among different payloads thus making the experiment particularly challenging.
The underlying idea consists in capturing images of the same landmark on the surface of the planet in different epochs in order to observe a displacement of the identified features with respect to a nominal rotation which allows to estimate the rotational parameters. Observations must be planned accurately in order to obtain image pairs carrying the highest information content for the following estimation process.
This is not a trivial task especially in light of the several dynamical constraints involved. Another delicate issue is represented by the pattern matching process between image pairs for which the lowest correlation errors are desired.
The research activity was conducted in the frame of the MORE rotation experiment and addressed the design and implementation of an end-to-end simulator of the experiment with the final objective of establishing an optimal science planning of the observations. In the thesis, the implementation of the singular modules forming the simulator is illustrated along with the simulations performed. The results obtained from the preliminary release of the optimization algorithm are finally presented although the software implemented is only at a preliminary release and will be improved and refined in the future also taking into account the developments of the mission.


The Salish language family is of special interest for syntactic and semantic theory because it has been argued to differ radically from Indo-European languages in both structure and interpretation (see, e.g., Kinkade 1983; Jelinek and Demers 1994; Jelinek 1995; Ritter and Wiltschko 2005, forthcoming; Davis 2006, 2009; Matthewson 2006a, forthcoming). In this article, we survey four theoretical debates in the syntactic and semantic literature on Salish, one from each of the areas of lexical semantics, super-lexical syntax, semantics and pragmatics, with an eye to pinning down the principal loci of variation between Salish and Indo-European. In the domain of lexical semantics, we argue for the hypothesis that all Salish verb roots are intransitive and unaccusative. In the area of syntax, we outline the predictions of the Pronominal Argument Hypothesis, and provide counterarguments which show that at least some and probably all Salish languages have a fully configurational syntax. Turning to tense, we argue that Salish languages are tensed, despite superficial evidence to the contrary. Finally, we present arguments that at least one Salish language differs radically from English in its pragmatics: it lacks any familiarity presuppositions. Our conclusion is that major parametric differences between Salish and Indo-European languages are not to be found in the syntax or sentence-level semantics, but in the pragmatics, and possibly the lexical semantics.


Children's experiences and voices are underrepresented in academic literature and professional practice around domestic violence and abuse. The project "Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies" (UNARS) addresses this absence, through direct engagement with children. We present an analysis from interviews with 21 children in the United Kingdom (12 girls and 9 boys, aged 8-18 years), about their experiences of domestic violence and abuse, and their responses to this violence. These interviews were analyzed using interpretive interactionism. Three themes from this analysis are presented: (a) "Children's experiences of abusive control," which explores children's awareness of controlling behavior by the adult perpetrator, their experience of that control, and its impact on them; (b) "Constraint," which explores how children experience the constraint associated with coercive control in situations of domestic violence; and (c) "Children as agents," which explores children's strategies for managing controlling behavior in their home and in family relationships. The article argues that, in situations where violence and abuse occur between adult intimate partners, children are significantly affected, and can be reasonably described as victims of abusive control. Recognizing children as direct victims of domestic violence and abuse would produce significant changes in the way professionals respond to them, by (a) recognizing children's experience of the impact of domestic violence and abuse; (b) recognizing children's agency, undermining the perception of them as passive "witnesses" or "collateral damage" in adult abusive encounters; and (c) strengthening professional responses to them as direct victims, not as passive witnesses to violence.


The manifestation of the common good and the manifestation of the individual rights and interests are always the subject of major importance in the legal discussions. The political societies often overestimate one or another manifestation. The international opinion and the doctrine of the Church have their own position regarding this problem. Also it is useful to keep in mind the evolution of the legal systems. The International Declaration of Human Rights and the teaching of the Catholic Church could enable us to understand more clearly the content of the common morality, common order, common opinion in the context of the common good and the individual rights.


English version available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1098270. Financial literacy education has long been promoted as key to consumer financial well-being. Yet the claim has never had more than negligible statistically significant empirical support. This review (1) sets forth the model of financial literacy education underlying public support for these programs today, (2) identifies pervasive and serious limitations in existing empirical research used by policymakers as evidence of the effectiveness of this education, and (3) recommends a number of alternative public policies suggested by the existing research.


We report the subsequent course of a previously-reported (Japanese abstract) case of catamenial pneumothorax (CPT) involving seven recurrences of pneumothorax during pregnancy, treated by thoracoscopic surgery and then small thoracotomy segmental resection and pleural covering with polyglycolic acid felt and fibrin glue. The patient took an oral contraceptive (OC) from 6 months postpartum until discontinuation after 2 years to become pregnant. Pregnancy occurred after 1 year and an elective caesarean section was performed in the 37th week of pregnancy. During that period, there was no evidence of recurrence of pneumothorax.
Endometriosis-related pneumothorax during pregnancy recurs with high probability following medical management by thoracic drainage. For pneumothorax during pregnancy occurring on the right side followed by early recurrence after medical management by thoracic drainage, endometriosis should be considered to be a possible cause, particularly when there is a past history of endometriosis. In such cases, we recommend early thoracoscopic surgery comprising not only resection of the endometriosis lesions after careful evaluation but also pleurodesis and/or covering with polyglycolic acid felt and fibrin glue. Further studies are needed to clarify and develop appropriate management of pneumothorax in pregnant women with a history of CPT.


The
automatic detection, counting and tracking of individual and flocked chickens
in the poultry industry is of paramount to enhance farming productivity and animal
welfare. Due to methodological difficulties, such as the complex background of
images, varying lighting conditions, and occlusions from e.g., feeding
stations, water nipple stations and barriers in the chicken rearing production floor,
it is a challenging task to automatically recognize and track birds using
computer software. Here, a deep learning model based on You Only Look Once
(Yolov5) is proposed for detecting domesticated chickens from videos with
varying complex backgrounds. A multiscale feature is being adapted to the Yolov5
network for mapping modules in the counting and tracking of the trajectories of
the chickens. The Yolov5 network was trained and tested on our dataset which resulted
in an enhanced tracking precision accuracy. Using Kalman Filter, the proposed
model was able to track multiple chickens simultaneously with the focus to
associate individual chickens across the frames of the video for real time and
online applications. By being able to
detect the chickens amid diverse background interference and counting them
precisely along with tracking the movement and measuring their travelled path
and direction, the proposed model provides excellent performance for on-farm
applications. Artificial intelligence enabled automatic measurements of chicken
behavior on-farm using cameras offers continuous monitoring of the chicken's
ability to perch, walk, interact with other birds and the farm environment, as
well as the assessment of dustbathing, thigmotaxis, and foraging frequency,
which are important indicators for their ability to express natural behaviors. This study highlights the potential of
automated monitoring of poultry through the usage of ChickTrack model as a
digital tool in enabling science-based animal husbandry practices and thereby
promote positive welfare for chickens in animal farming.


Involvement of digital information in almost of enterprise sectors makes information having value that must be protected from information leakage. In order to obtain proper method for protecting sensitive information, enterprise must perform risk analysis of threat. However, enterprises often get limitation in measuring risk related information security threat. Therefore, this paper has goal to give approach for estimating risk by using information value. Techniques for measuring information value in this paper are text mining and Jaccard method. Text mining is used to recognize information pattern based on three classes namely high business impact, medium business impact and low business impact. Furthermore, information is given weight by Jaccard method. The weight represents risk levelof information leakage in enterprise quantitatively. Result of comparative analysis with existing method show that proposed method results more detailed output in estimating risk of information security threat.


We study recent technological innovation in credit markets and document their role in providing information to households. We show that households value the ability to learn detailed information about their cost of credit. This function is most valued by less creditworthy households with less experience in credit markets. To measure the demand for information provision we exploit a quasi-natural experiment in an online consumer credit market. A large lending platform unexpectedly switched from pricing loans through an auction mechanism to centralized pricing determined by broad credit grade. This change resulted in an instant decrease in the amount of tailored feedback available to market participants. We find that less experienced households immediately and disproportionately exit the market and the response is concentrated among higher risk households. We rule out alternative explanations such as changes in access to credit, borrower risk profiles, and interest rate levels. Our findings point to a potentially important role for financial innovation: enabling less experienced households to more easily learn about their credit market options.